Grill means

ABSTRACT

This invention is a grill of the type ordinarily associated with charcoal. Such grill features sloped heat reflecting sides which create smoke but will not flame up, an elongated thin, centrally disposed charcoal basket is also provided with a clean out tray therebelow. Additionally, a charcoal igniting chamber is provided which allows the charcoal to be lit through the use of newspaper type combustibles thus eliminating the need for charcoal lighter fluid and similar ignitors.

This is a continuation in part of U.S. patent application Ser. No.744,955, filed June 17, 1985, U.S. Pat. No. 4,638,787.

FIELD OF INVENTION

This invention relates to cooking means and more particularly tocharcoal type grills.

BACKGROUND OF INVENTION

Since ancient times, people have used fires for cooking meals outside.These have ranged from campfires to hibachis and more recently varioustypes of uncovered and covered outdoor type charcoal grills.

Not only the method of cooking but the lighting of the fire itself hasalways been a problem that has had to be contended with. In more moderntimes, with the popularity of outdoor cooking of fish, chicken, steaks,and the like, the most troublesome problems have continued to be thestarting of the fire to create the coals for cooking and dealing withflame flare-ups during cooking.

To overcome the fire starting problem, gas grills have been introducedwith briquet shaped lava type rocks to simulate cooking over charcoal.This alternative, in an attempt to get away from lighting problems, hastwo main drawbacks, first they are expensive, and secondly they do notimpart the flavor to the food being cooked that the use of hardwoodcharcoal gives.

The use of lighter fluids, which are usually petroleum distillates,invariably leaves a residual taste, has a bad odor when burning, andcannot be used until all of the briquets have been completely ignitedand turn ash white due to the volatile odors being emitted therefrom.Electric ignitors have been marketed but these devices invariably burnout after a short time and have to be replaced which is both aggravatingand expensive.

Finally, cylindrical shaped devices have been used wherein newspaper orsimilar material is placed in the bottom thereof with charcoal in theupper portion. When the paper is lit it will ignite the bottom layer ofthe charcoal thus eventually igniting the remainder. Although theseignitors do not leave residual odors, they are offensive in giving offlarge amounts of smoke when first ignited, tend to eventually burn out,and most importantly, are dangerous in that the charcoal must betransferred from the ignition to the grill and then the ignitor placedsomewhere that it will not burn or create a fire until it has cooledoff. There is also the danger of a child or other person touching thehot cylinder and becoming badly burned thereby.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF INVENTION

After much research and study into the above-mentioned problems, thepresent invention has been developed to provide a charcoal type cookingdevice which is easy to ignite, is highly efficient in cooking, and doesnot have extended fire flame-ups during use.

The above is accomplished through the provision of a relatively narrowcharcoal basket extending across the grill with an ash clean-out meansthereunder. The bottom of the grill is also sloped inwardly to a pointadjacent the basket to reflect heat and prevent extended flame-ups.

Below the clean-out tray is an elongated ignitor section which isadapted to receive newspapers or similar combustible material which isused to ignite the charcoal thereabove. Since the ignitor portion of thepresent invention is integral with the grill, no transfer of thebriquets is required. Further, since the bottom is sloped with thecharcoal contained within a relatively narrow but elongated basket,grease and other liquids dripping from the food being cooked will flasheither on the sloped bottom or on the briquets themselves but will notmaintain continuous combustion or flame which causes so many burnedsteaks and other food products when using conventional charcoal typegrills.

Since the clean-out pan is disposed beneath the briquets during thecooking process, ashes can be collected therein and readily dumped at aconvenient time and location without having to pick the grill up orotherwise manipulate the same during the cleaning process as hasheretofore been necessary.

In view of the above, it is an object of the present invention toprovide a charcoal type grill which is self-igniting, prevents extendedflame flare-ups, and can be readily cleaned.

Another object of the present invention is to provide and improvedcontainer for charcoal type fuel which allows maximum cooking with aminimum of fuel.

Another object of the present invention is to provide, in a charcoaltype grill, an integral means for igniting the charcoal.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a charcoal typegrill having a combination of relatively narrow fuel basket and steeplysloped sides to prevent food from burning.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an extremely fuelefficient charcoal type grill.

Other objects and advantages of the present invention will becomeapparent and obvious from a study of the following description and theaccompanying drawings which are merely illustrative of such invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the various parts of the improved grillmeans of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a paper type combustible beingplaced in the ignitor portion of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the grill means ready for cooking;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a gas fired version of the presentinvention;

FIG. 5 is a top end perspective view of the gas adapter being placed inthe collar portion of the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a top end perspective view of the gas adapter in place.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF INVENTION

With further reference to the drawings, the improved grill means of thepresent invention, indicated generally at 10, is composed of a grillportion, indicated generally at 11, and an ignitor portion, indicatedgenerally at 12.

The grill portion 11 is composed of generally vertically disposed endwalls 13 and 14 and steeply sloping sidewalls 15 and 16. The lowerperiphery of the end walls and side walls define an elongated opening17. Charcoal basket support shoulders 18 are provided at opposite endsof the elongated opening 17 and are adapted to supportingly engagecharcoal basket 19.

The sides and bottom of the charcoal basket 19 are preferablyconstructed from expanded metal. Since metal of this type is well knownto those skilled in the art, further detailed discussion of the same isnot deemed necessary.

Handle means 20 are provided on either end of charcoal basket 19 so thatthe same can be readily lifted from the grill means for cleaning orother purposes.

The charcoal basket 19 is approximately two charcoal briquets wide thuspresenting only a narrow area of direct radiation immediately above saidbasket during cooking.

A smoke cover 21 is hingedly mounted to the upper edge of side wall 15,as indicated at 22. A lifting handle 23 is provided on the side of smokecover 21 opposite hinge 22.

Rotatable exhaust dampers 24 are provided in the top of smoke cover 21.Since rotatable exhaust dampers of this type are well known to thoseskilled in the art, further detailed discussion of the same is notdeemed necessary.

A collar portion, indicated generally at 25, connects the grill portion11 to the ignitor portion 12 of the grill means 10 of the presentinvention. This collar portion includes an impervious side 26, animpervious end 27, and a side 28 having a plurality of draft openings 29therein. A draft damper 30 is hingedly mounted, as indicated at 31, toside 28 of collar portion 25 and can be used to close damper openings 29as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 and can be opened the same to allow air toflow through said draft openings 29 as shown in FIG. 3.

The collar door 32 is hingedly mounted, as indicated at 33, and formsthe second end of such collar and yet gives access to the interiorthereof as will hereinafter be described in greater detail.

Food supporting grill 34 is so sized as to snugly fit in the top ofgrill portion 11 as can clearly be seen in FIG. 3. The grill 34 caneither rest on and be supported by the sloping sidewalls 15 and 16 orcan have separate support means (not shown) and can even be heightadjustable. It has been found through use, however, that heightadjustment is not necessary due to the unique cooking characteristics ofthe present invention.

The ignitor portion 12 of the present invention includes side walls 35and 36, end walls 37 and 38, and bottom 39. The top of the ignitorportion is, of course, open where it joins collar portion 25.

End wall 38 and bottom 39 of ignitor portion 12 are impervious. Each ofthe side walls 35 and 36 has a plurality of draft openings 40 in thelower portion thereof and end wall 37 has an access door 41 thereinwhich is hingedly mounted as indicated at 42.

Heat insulating support legs 43 are fixedly secured to bottom 39 ofignitor portion 12 while manipulating handle 44 is provided on collardoor 32 and a manipulating handle 45 is provided on ignitor access door41.

Clean-out tray 46 is composed of side walls 47, end wall 48, bottom 49,and end wall cover plate 50. Cover plate/end wall 50 has a manipulatinghandle 51 outwardly extending therefrom.

The clean-out tray 46 is so sized as to slide into collar portion 25,and when in place, end wall 50 will cover the opening left when collardoor 32 is open as can clearly be seen in FIG. 3. Since this trayeffectively covers the horizontal cross section of collar portion 25, itblocks any draft entering draft openings 40 of the ignitor portion 12from passing into the grill portion 11.

To use the improved grill means of the present invention, the smokecover 21 is opened and the charcoal basket 19 is filled with charcoal54, preferably in the form of briquets, to the desired level dependingon the anticipated time of cooking. The longer the cooking time, ofcourse, the more charcoal would be used. During this filling process thecharcoal basket 19 is resting on shoulders 18 over elongated opening 17and such basket does not have to be removed from the grill means duringsuch filling.

The clean-out tray 46 is removed from collar portion 25 and collar door32 is closed. Draft damper 30 is also closed. Access door 41 is openedand non-toxic combustible materials 52 such as crumpled up newspaper canbe placed inside of the ignitor portion 12. The equivalent of three tofive sheets of newspaper have been found to be adequate for the ignitingpurpose.

Door 41 is closed after the newspaper has been inserted. Since it isdesirable to have the combustible material burn from the bottom, a matchor other igniting means is passed through one of the draft openings 41to light the newspaper or other combustible material.

As the paper or other combustibles 52 begins to burn, the tapered sidewalls 35 and 36 funnel the fire into the collar portion 25 which hasexposed thereabove the charcoal 54 in basket 19. An updraft or chimneyeffect is created which causes rapid burning of material 52 whichquickly ignites not only the bottom layer of charcoal, but since theflames can pass around the charcoal briquets and the basket 19 is of theopen mesh type, a good portion of the side briquets also are ignited.Within a few minutes, usually between eight and twelve minutes, theentire basket of briquets will have become ignited and the grill means10 of the present invention is ready to use.

Once the charcoal 54 within basket 19 is ready to use as indicatedabove, collar door 32 is opened and clean-out tray 46 is inserted. Thiscuts off the updraft from the ignitor portion Draft damper 30 is openedas are exhaust dampers 24. The food 55 to be grilled is placed oncooking rack 34 and smoking cover 21 is closed. The air for sustainingcombustion of the charcoal enters draft openings 29, passes up throughthe charcoal 54, and the products of combustion passed out of the grillmeans 10 through the openings in exhaust dampers 24. By manipulatingdampers 24 and/or 30, the temperature within the grill means can becontrolled.

Since the greatest portion of charcoal is exposed on the vertical sidewalls of basket 19, the interior of the steeply sloping walls 15 and 16quickly become hot. As the food 55 begins to cook, natural essencetherefrom will begin to drip down and strike the interior of thesewalls. This dripping essence will almost instantly vaporize into a puffof smoke.

If the sides are hot enough, the vaporizing smoke may flash but onlyadjacent the area where the essence contacted the side and will onlylast for a moment and certainly will not be a sustained flame. Also, dueto the very small area where the food 55 is actually disposed directlyabove the charcoal 54, the small amount of essence falling thereon willsmoke and possibly flash, but due to such a small area, there will notbe enough essence at any given time to sustain flaming which is so oftenencountered when using the prior art grills, particularly when cookingmeats which can contain a large percentage of fat such as pork, steaks,and particularly hamburgers.

Once the cooking process has been completed, dampers 24 and 30 areclosed thus effectively cutting off combustion sustaining air to thesmoldering charcoal which will very quickly extinguish the same so thatit can be used again.

Once the charcoal has been extinguished, the clean-out tray 46 can beremoved from beneath charcoal basket 19 which will remove the ashes thathave fallen from the charcoal during the burning process.

The next time it is desired to use the grill means 10 of the presentinvention, only a few more pieces of charcoal need to be added to bringthe volume of the same up to the desired level. The igniting process canthen be repeated followed by cooking as described above.

Although part of the food 55 being cooked is often disposed directlyabove the charcoal, because there is such a small area of directexposure, overcooking or different rates of cooking have not beenproblems during extensive experimental use of the grill means of thepresent invention.

The smoking and momentary flashing of the essence dripping from the foodbeing cooked imparts thereto a delicious flavor not found in foodscooked on prior art grills. Also, the food being cooked can be brownedto perfection on the outside while remaining moist and juicy on theinside.

Again, hamburgers which are the jinx of most outdoor cooking due tocontinuous flame flare-ups and constant burning, are one of the besttypes of food to cook on the present invention because there is nocontinuous flame or flame flare-ups but only momentary flashes withtaste enhancing smoke. Experiments have been conducted cooking hamburgermeat taken from the same package, part on a kettle type prior art grilland part on an improved grill means of the present invention. Whenever,the top of the kettle grill is raised, the entire interior would becomea sustained fireball, badly burning the meat on the outside whileleaving the interior raw. The meat cooked on the present inventionsizzled, flashed, and smoked, but did not flame up and when the exteriorof such meat was golden brown, the interior was done and yet remainedjuicy with an absolutely delicious flavor.

Referring now to the modifications shown in FIGS. 4 through 6, theimproved grill means of the present invention is mounted on a pylon 61which in turn is mounted on a carriage platform 62 and is securedthereto by any suitable means such as weldment.

Wheels 63 are rotatingly mounted on axils 64 which in turn are fixedlysecured to platform 62. Since the mounting and operation of wheels ofthis type are well known to those skilled in the art, further detaileddiscussion of the same is not deemed necessary.

A standard, commercially available gas tank or reservoir 65 is mountedon platform 62 and includes the normal cut-off valve and gas pressureregulator as indicated at 66 and 67 respectively.

A gas line 68 is operatively connected to regulator 67 in the normalmanner of such devices. The opposite end of line 68 from regulator 67 isoperatively connected to a burner control 69. This burner control isoperatively mounted within housing 70 and operates in the normal mannerof such devices.

A burner manifold 71 is operatively connected to burner control 69 andincludes a plurality of burner orfaces 72. Adjacent the end of manifold71 opposite control 69 is fixedly secured flange 73 which acts as both aguide and a support for said manifold as will hereinafter be describedin detail.

To use gas rather than charcoal in the present invention, clean-out tray46 is removed from collar portion 25 and manifold 71 is substitutedtherefore with manifold flange 73 and housing flange 74 resting on trayslide 46' thus giving a steady mounting to said manifold 71 withincollar portion 25. To prevent accumulated grease and/or charcoal ash (ifcharcoal briquettes are used) from falling into the ignitor portion 12,a tray similar to clean-out tray 46 but without cover plate 50 andhandle 51 can be placed on tray slide 46' with manifold flange 73 andhousing flange 74 resting on the upper edges of side walls 47.

The basket 19 can be left in place resting on support shoulders 18adjacent walls 13 and 14 of grill portion 11 since the manifold 71 isdisposed therebelow.

Charcoal briquettes 54 can be left in basket 19; can be replaced withlava rocks or stone briquettes; or as a compromise and for maximumcooking efficiency while obtaining maximum charcoal flavor, a mixture ofcharcoal and stone briquettes can be placed in basket 19.

Once the type of briquettes desired have been placed in basket 19 andthe same has been placed in the grill portion 11 as shown in FIG. 3, thegas manifold 71 is ready to light. By simply pulling the manifold withit's control and control housing out to approximately the point shown inFIG. 5, some of the orfaces 72 will be exposed outside of collar portion25. Cut-off valve 66 can then be opened, control 69 manipulated to turnon the gas. As such gas exits orfaces 72, it can be lit with anyconvenient means such as a match (not shown). The manifold assembly 75can then be slid back into collar portion 25 to the position shown inFIG. 6. Food 55 can then be placed on the cooking rack of grill 34 andthe cooking process accomplished in the normal manner.

If some or all charcoal briquettes are used in the gas cookingoperation, once such cooking has been completed, the manifold assembly75 can be removed from the collar portion 25 and clean-out tray 46 canbe used to replace the same. The charcoal basket can then be vibrated orshaken to cause the charcoal briquette ashes to fall into tray 46. Suchtray can then be removed as earlier described and ashes discarded.

If of course, only volcanoe rock or stone briquettes are used, then thegas can simply be cut off when the cooking process is finished and themanifold can remain in the throat portion until again needed.

Although a carriage platform 62 and pylon 61 are shown in the gasversion of the present invention, it is obvious that the same is notnecessary to convert the improved grill means shown in FIGS. 1 through 3to gas by simply sitting tank 65 which is there too, removing clean-outtray 46 and replacing the same with the manifold assembly idicatedgenerally at 75 and including manifold 71, control 69 and controlhousing 70.

From the above it can be seen that the present invention provides asophisticated grill means with a built in non-toxic ignitor, had meansfor readily removing ashes, evenly cooks the food placed therein withoutburning, uses very little charcoal during cooking, is aestheticalyattractive, can self extinguish unused charcoal, and is easy to cleanboth interiorly and exteriorly.

The present invention can, of course, be carried out in other specificways than those herein set forth without departing from the spirit andessential characteristics of the invention. The presetn embodiments are,therefore, to be considered in all respects as illustrative and notrestrictive and all changes coming within the meaning and equivalencyrange of the appended claims are intended to be embraced therein.

I claim:
 1. A convertible improved charcoal ignition to gas grill meanscomprising: an ignition chamber having a bottom, a surrounding wallstructure extending upwardly from said bottom, and an open top whereinsaid surronding wall structure slopes inwardly from said bottom to saidopen top; a grill chamber having a surrounding wall structure, an openbottom and an open top wherein said surrounding wall structure slopesoutwardly from said open bottom to said open top; a collar extendingbetween said open top of said ignition chamber and said open bottom ofsaid grill chamber for supporting said grill chamber above said ignitionchamber and for providing means for air to flow between said ignitionchamber and grill chamber; basket type means disposed within said grillchamber for receiving and containing briquettes directly above said openbottom; means for supporting said basket type means within said grillchamber; a generally horizontal grill disposed within said grill chamberabove said basket type means; means for supporting said grill with saidgrill chamber; a smoke cover movable between an open and closed positionfor closing said open top of said grill chamber; and a removable gasburner means; a removable ash pan; said gas burner means and such ashpan alternately insertable into said collar whereby a convertiblegrilling means is provided.
 2. The means of claim 1 wherein saidbriquettes are of the charcoal type.
 3. The means of claim 1 whereinsaid briquettes are of the stone type.
 4. The means of claim 1 whereinsaid briquettes are of a combination charcoal and stone types.
 5. Themeans of claim 1 wherein said burner means for replacing said ash panincludes an elongated manifold with a guide and support flange securedto one end thereof and a gas control and housing operatively secured toopposite end thereof.
 6. The means of claim 5 wherein said housingincludes a housing flange for at least partially supporting said burnerassembly.